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LUKE HAYNES

I am an architect turned Quilter. I come from a strong art and design background that informs my quilt work in a different way than is generally associated with quilting. I make quilts to discuss utility in aesthetics and because I like the tactile craft of constructing works out of fabric. My most recent works have been investigating nostalgia and function. I work with quilts because they embody these subconsciously while lending a unique materiality to the process and resultant product. I can work with disparate pieces of fabric and create a cohesive final product that is greater than the sum of its parts. Within contemporary quilt making we are exploring ways of using fabric as a medium for both functional quilts as well as wall hangings. The resultant dialogue between quilting as a pastime of assembling purchased fabrics and quilting as a skill of constructing usable objects from unusable cloth reflects a current societal tension. For each viewer the alchemy is within the craftsmanship and creative eye of the quilter and their work, as demonstrated in the Gee’s Bend quilts. They were brought into national attention as they toured the country through contemporary art museums and galleries. Those quilts constructed for warmth from overused cloth became intriguing art objects. I am interested in the choices we make to express ourselves to our world. We create an environment around ourselves to inform others how we desire to be perceived. By quilting I am initiating a dialogue between the immediate environments we create for ourselves, and the environments we inhabit. Where cloth, what we know to respond to as clothes, linens, drapes and all kinds of covers becomes the language of my work. The cloth becomes the medium that I use to create images and scenes rather than conceal and contain. I ask the viewer to reexamine quilts and cloth in my work. By viewing the pieces the viewer takes away a new understanding of craft and function, as well as art and materiality. My work is shown across the country. I exist mostly within the world of fine arts, showing in galleries and museums. I am taking quilting to the masses of literate artisans that may yet not know the ripe qualities of the medium.